It’s been a while since we have had a Star Trek TV show. There was a time in the 1980s to 2005 where Star Trek has been on our televisions (with the occasional film in between) every week. However, since Star Trek: Enterprise was canceled back in 2005, we have been without a Star Trek TV show. The reboot of the franchise with JJ Abram’s Star Trek films have once again put Gene Roddenberry’s classic sci-fi franchise back on the map, and fans also wanted to see it on the small screen.

Bryan Fuller and Alex Kurtzman started development for a brand new Star Trek series titled Star Trek: Discovery.Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harbert will serve as the showrunners for the show. Set a decade before Captain Kirk’s original series, the show would follow the USS Discovery, a new starship within the Federation. Instead of the show focusing on the captain of the starship as most Star Trek shows have had in the past, the show would instead focus on the ship’s First Officer (Number One) and we would see the show through a different perspective. The lead character was originally not going to have a name, but instead, go the whole season with the name “Number One.” The character was also going to be an African-American female and modeled after Mae Carol Jemison, the NASA astronaut and first black woman to travel in space (who has, in fact, appeared on Star Trek: The Next Generation before as an extra). It looks like Star Trek: Discovery has found their lead.

Actress Sonequa Martin-Green (who currently plays Sasha on The Walking Dead) has been cast as the lead of the upcoming show. Currently, she is going by the name “Rainsford” but will frequently be called “Number One” on the show. Although Star Trek: Deep Space Nine had Captain Sisko as the first African-American lead of a Star Trek show, Martin-Green will play the first African-American female lead of a Star Trek series. Star Trek: Discovery is already loaded with diversity as actress Michelle Yeoh will play the Starship Shenzhou’s captain and actor Anthony Rapp will play the Star Trek (TV) franchise’s first openly gay character. Other actors cast for the show include Doug Jones as a Science Officer of a new alien species to be introduced and Shazad Latif, Chris Obi, and Mary Chieffo will play as Klingon officers.

Brian Fuller also had comments on the diverse casting of the upcoming show.

“Star Trek started with a wonderful expression of diversity in its cast … we’re continuing that tradition.”

“We wanted to paint a picture of Starlet that’s indicative of encountering people who are much more different than we are.”

Should The Walking Dead fans be worried for Sasha? As of right now, no. Sonequa Martin-Green will be juggling multiple hats as she will still remain a series regular on the popular zombie apocalypse show and also be the lead for Star Trek: Discovery when she is not filming The Walking Dead.

Star Trek: Discovery’s pilot episode will premiere on CBS and then all episodes will be available on the CBS Streaming service CBS All Access in May 2017.

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